CH 217

I couldn’t even ask why he was smiling… Anyway, that wasn’t important now.

“How far has the situation gone now?”

“What situation are you talking about?”

“Yeah, of course…”

Slightly bewildered at Cheon Sa-yeon’s question, I turned my attention to Park Geon-ho and Woo Seo-hyuk. Didn’t you explain what happened at the club?

Park Geon-ho, who made eye contact with me, tilted his head slightly with an expressionless face. It was rare to see him not smiling, so my heart sank.

“What… Did something really happen?”

“No. It’s not that.”

Park Geon-ho, who touched the corner of his mouth with a complicated expression, sighed deeply.

“Oh, I didn’t expect things to happen this way…”

“Yes?”

“The two people you’ve brought in have been treated for now. Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk will tell you the details.”

At that, Woo Seo-hyuk, who was standing next to him, frowned slightly as if he was displeased.

“The woman who was forced to drink the drugs was moved to the ward after checking her physical condition.”

“What about the drug reaction?”

“It was similar to the previous victims. However, she doesn’t have any offensive abilities and fainted halfway through, so there wasn’t much trouble.”

“Lee Soo-jin… where are the member of the Praus Cult?”

“She was detained in an underground training room that had previously been used as an interrogation room. The wound on her head has healed, so there are no problems with her health.”

“She hasn’t been interrogated yet?”

“Yes.”

Kwon Jeong-han answered my question instead. You didn’t even interrogate her, I was wondering a bit about what everyone was doing while I was on drugs, but let’s move on.

“The alcohol with drugs is in a good condition in my inventory. Ha Tae-heon-ssi, could you please contact Luzel and Luke-ssi?”

“I will do it.”

“Hand over the drugs as soon as Luzel and Luke-ssi arrive, and now I will go to meet Lee Soo-jin…”

“Han Yi-gyeol-ssi.”

I was about to go to the interrogation before it was too late, but Woo Seo-hyuk, who blocked me, spoke firmly with a tired look.

“The person named Lee Soo-jin is being taken care of properly to prevent her from escaping, so it seems that you should wash and eat first.”

“What? But…”

“Right. We’ve already successfully captured her, but I don’t know why you’re in a rush. Being an hour or two late would be fine.”

Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been watching silently until now, suddenly intervened. Starting with that, Kim Woo-jin, Min Ah-rin, and Ha Tae-heon, who were tight-lipped, added their opinions one by one.

“Han Yi-gyeol, please… can you please take a rest?”

“That’s right. I won’t give up this time.”

“Your complexion is still not good. Wash up. I will prepare something to eat.”

“Wa, wait a minute…!”

Before I could refute anything, I was forced into the bathroom and stood in front of the sink mirror with a stupid face.

‘No, when did everyone become so close?’

In particular, Ha Tae-heon looked uncomfortable with the other people until a few days ago. Did you make friends while I was at the club?

I imagined Ha Tae-heon having a friendly conversation with the Requiem members, but it wasn’t easy. For me, who read ‘Abyss’, where Requiem and Roheon growled and continued their rivalry, the current situation was very awkward.

‘I don’t know…’

I groaned inwardly and took off my clothes. It was true that I was uncomfortable with the sweat, so I had to wash up first. When I checked my face in the bathroom mirror, it was a mess.

After washing up, I would put off the meal until later and go to Lee Soo-jin. It didn’t make any sense to sit around eating when we had someone important like that.

After seeing Lee Soo-jin, I was thinking of going to meet the woman who was Doctor’s test subject. I had something to ask her as well.

I arranged my thoughts in my head, turned on the water in the shower, and bathed quickly.

However, it took me a while to make up my mind and as soon as I left the bathroom, Min Ah-rin grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the table.

“Yi-gyeol-ssi, Yi-gyeol-ssi. Look at this!”

Unable to resist the pulling force, I approached the table and saw a full set of food. I smiled awkwardly and slowly pulled my hand away.

“I have a lot of work to do now, so I will eat later…”

“Oh? You aren’t going to eat?”

Kim Woo-jin, who had just come out of the kitchen with a plate of fried eggs, looked at me with shocked eyes.

“That…”

“I’ve worked hard for it…”

Kim Woo-jin made a tearful face by drooping down the sharp corners of his eyes. At the same time, I could feel many gazes focused on me.

‘This… if I say no immediately, the atmosphere will be strange.’

Just like last time, it was obvious that Cheon Sa-yeon would do something scummy. I smiled and grabbed Kim Woo-jin’s shoulder as I put the plate down.

“It’s not like that, Kim Woo-jin. You know I like your cooking.”

As I spoke in a soft voice, Kim Woo-jin’s body shook slightly and the nape of his neck turned red.

“But now I have a lot to do, so I can’t help it…”

“Han Yi-gyeol.”

A familiar voice intervened between me and Kim Woo-jin. I looked back involuntarily and opened my mouth wide in surprise.

“Ha, Ha Tae-heon-ssi?”

Ha Tae-heon, wearing the light pink apron Min Ah-rin used to cook in the kitchen, spoke solemnly while holding a spatula.

“Eat your meal.”

“Yes…?”

“Eat. Your meal.”

Min Ah-rin further explained to me, who was bewildered and didn’t know what to do.

“Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon cooked the fried egg and grilled ham.”

“Wh, what the… how come…”

“You just saw Woo-jin-ssi and went to do it guilelessly, didn’t you?”

Cheon Sa-yeon and Park Geon-ho, who stood behind me, were dumbfounded and lost for words. They covered their mouths and giggled, holding back their laughter.

Kim Woo-jin and Ha Tae-heon were wearing aprons side by side, Cheon Sa-yeon and Park Geon-ho were about to die from the enjoyment, and Min Ah-rin, Kwon Jeong-han, and Woo Seo-hyuk were curiously watching what I would do.

‘Why are you all doing this, really…’

Ha Tae-heon gestured his chin towards me as I was looking around stiffly.

“Sit down.”

“Yep…”

With a broken will, I sat quietly in front of the table. I never imagined that Kim Woo-jin and Ha Tae-heon would work together to cook…

Since the two of them made it, there were quite a few meals on the table. How could you make so much? Kim Woo-jin put a bowl full of freshly-cooked hot rice in front of me as he had his eyes lit up.

“Eat a lot, Han Yi-gyeol.”

“Oong…”

With a spoon in my hand, half-mindedly, I diligently put the dish in my mouth. There was nothing I could do about this. Let’s eat in moderation and pretend to be full.

‘But why is it so delicious?’

Was it because two people who were good at cooking got together? Come to think of it, aside from going to the club and drinking a few glasses of champagne, there were times when I hadn’t eaten anything before. I was so busy I didn’t know.

Piiik!

Fox, who sat with his legs crossed on one side of the table and watched me eat, let out a pleasant cry.

* * *

After eating the dessert Kim Woo-jin gave, two hours had passed.

Now, thinking that I really shouldn’t be delayed, I hurried everyone to release the shackles and headed to the basement training room where Lee Soo-jin was held. It was a pity, but it wasn’t a good situation to take Fox and left him in the room as I said I would be right back after it was done.

“Even though her ability is weak, it’s an opponent with telekinesis, so the shutter item was additionally tied securely.”

Inside the elevator heading down to the basement, I nodded at the explanation given by Woo Seo-hyuk.

Lee Soo-jin was a talented person who knew how to handle her ability in such detail enough to inject drugs by pressing the syringe that was stuck in my body even when she was injured.

It was far better to hold her securely rather than to let your guard down and miss her.

“And I did some research.”

As I got off the elevator and walked through the hallway, Woo Seo-hyuk recited Lee Soo-jin’s personal information.

“Her name is Lee Soo-jin. It’s her real name, not an alias. It’s said that she lived in Korea and immigrated to America with her family when she was 16.”

“America?”

“Yes. It seems that the awakening of her ability took place there. According to the passport record, she came to Korea 45 days ago.”

“It’s the same time the drugs spread.”

It was a short amount of time for the fact that she had contacted the Praus Cult in Korea and spread the drugs.

‘Then, maybe it was from America?’

Considering the fact that Praus Cult was a worldwide problem, it was quite possible.

The innermost training room on the third basement floor where Lee Myung-soo was tied up last time. When I opened the door, I saw Lee Soo-jin, whose body was tied to the chair, and her eyes were covered. The shutter item, handcuffs, was also wrapped around her wrists.

“…you’ve come too late. I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

Perhaps she was awake or she heard the sound of us coming, Lee Soo-jin opened her mouth with a bright smile.

I felt it from the club, but she had a great personality. I also raised the corners of my lips and responded lightly.

“I’m sorry. The drug you gave me lasted quite a long time.”

Lee Soo-jin, who heard my voice, showed a sign of surprise.

“Hu-hung, you look pretty good, don’t you? I expected you to crawl two more days… Is this because of an A-rank?”

Obviously, I still wasn’t in good shape. There was nothing good about making it obvious, so I just hid it as much as possible.

“Well, it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought?”

“It’s a lie. Anyway, you are such a jerk.”

“……”

It was a kind of a joke, but she is too mean. Embarrassed, I coughed in vain and brought out the main topic.

“Lee Soo-jin-ssi. I have a few questions for you.”

“If I tell you honestly, will you release me?”

“I don’t know. I think it will be difficult to let you go.”

“Then, I don’t want to tell you, too?”

“We will take care of you.”

Lee Soo-jin, who paused for a moment at my answer, shed a smile that felt somewhat bitter.

“It seems that there’s even a mental ability talented person. You got it, right? That’s really annoying…”

“Isn’t that better than torture? It won’t even kill you. Just think of cooperating for a while.”

“Torture? Can you even do it?”

“Does it matter whether I can do it or not? I’ll do it if I need to. It’s good that I don’t even have to consider it.”

The jokes ended here. I gestured to Kwon Jeong-han, who was waiting behind me. He leaned close to me and leaned his upper body slightly.

“Can you make her obey you as much as possible?”

“Are you going to do it yourself?”

I looked at Cheon Sa-yeon and Ha Tae-heon. Ha Tae-heon nodded his head to say do whatever I want and Cheon Sa-yeon shrugged his shoulders lightly. Apparently, I brought Lee Soo-jin directly from the club, so they thought they were going to leave her entirely to me. Then, thank you.

“I will.”

“Hm… I don’t know. She has a higher grade than the last man and she has a strong mental ability, so I don’t think it’s enough to give her a command to trust us.”

“Then, will it be difficult?”

“There is a method to use things like this. I don’t really like it either, but… can I take her blindfold off?”

Cheon Sa-yeon touched his mouth at Kwon Jeong-han’s question for a while before answering.

“She has telekinesis and is not affiliated with Korea, so we have to hand her over to Centre Head Choi Mi-jin… It doesn’t matter if we show ourselves. How about going out for a while, Deputy Master Ha Tae-heon?”

“No. Roheon is fine too.”

“That’s right. Don’t worry about us, just do whatever the two of you want.”

When Cheon Sa-yeon’s permission fell, Kwon Jeong-han asked me, who smiled with a slight curl in the corner of his eye.

“Can you help me?”

“You want me to help?”

“Yes. I think that would be possible.”

Then, of course, I should help.

“What should I do?”

“Just stand by my side, please.”

Was that the end? When I answered yes, Kwon Jeong-han naturally grabbed my hand and pulled me forward.